The present invention relates to an adjustable pressure sequence controlled (PSC) valve and sprinkler system using said valves and, more particularly, to pressure sequence controlled valves and sprinkler system for watering a lawn or other grass area, garden or other environment requiring a periodic supply of water or other liquid substance.
Remote activation of sprinkler valves and heads by turning pressure on/off in a common supply line has been the focus of many prior patents. However its use has been limited to cycling valves in large commercial irrigation systems in which its purpose is to limit the number of heads operating at any one time in order to overcome flow limitations.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,793,908 discloses sequentially opening valves along feeder supply lines in order to reduce the diameter (size) of pipe needed. Only one or two heads on feeder lines operate at any one time, thereby reducing the flow of water. U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,770 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,216 disclose restricting the number of heads open at any one time by controlling the flow to branches of heads, with only one branch operating at a time.
However, these and other references and existing devices do not consider varying the duration of phases of operation or providing valves that cycle through phases in a convenient and efficient manner. The references also do not consider the varying requirements that exist among different environments. For example, orchards and golf courses are homogeneous and require equal amounts of water everywhere. Residences and non-homogeneous growing areas, such as nurseries and parks, need different amounts of water in different areas.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a valve and sprinkler system with advantageous features that do not exist in current devices.
It is another object of the invention to provide a valve that is mechanically/hydraulically operated.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sprinkler system that can be installed in a manner more conveniently, efficiently and with less cost as compared to existing sprinkler systems.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide an adjustable sprinkler system that uses a common supply line for all of the installed valves.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a sprinkler system that can be easily laid out and installed.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a lawn sprinkler system is provided that includes a master controller whose input is coupled to a water supply and whose output is coupled via pipe to a number of valves. The master controller is preprogrammed to supply water for a number of phases of operation, where the operation advances to a subsequent phase upon turning the supply of water off for a relatively short amount of time followed by turning the supply of water back on. Each of the valves includes an in-port and an out-port, where each valve cycles through each of the phases as controlled by the master controller. Also, each valve is pre-set (manually set at valve) to supply water to its respective out-port during a selected phase of operation.
As an aspect of the present invention, one or more sprinkler heads are attached to each valve.
As another aspect of the present invention, each valve includes a housing with an inner chamber and a piston disposed within the housing""s chamber. The piston includes a sealing disk that divides the chamber into separate top and bottom chambers, and the sealing disk moves up and down from within the chamber based upon the force of pressure exerted on it as a result of the supply of water from the master controller. The piston also rotates within the chamber when it descends to a certain position within the chamber and rotates further when it rises to another position. The sealing disk includes a port hole that supplies water from within the bottom chamber of the housing to the valve""s out-port when the port hole is at the same angular position as the out-port.
As a feature of this aspect, the piston includes a circular set of top teeth disposed on the top surface of the sealing disk and a circular set of bottom teeth disposed on the bottom surface of the sealing disk. The housing includes a circular set of bottom teeth disposed on its bottom surface below the piston""s bottom teeth, and the housing also includes a circular set of top teeth disposed on its top portion above the piston""s top teeth. The housing""s top teeth and the piston""s top teeth collectively rotate the piston by half a phase, and the housing""s bottom teeth and the piston""s bottom teeth collectively rotate the piston by half a phase.
As a further aspect of the present invention, the valve includes an indicator that identifies the number of phases until the valve activates.
As yet another aspect of the present invention, the valve can be designed to supply water during two phases of operation.
In accordance with a particular embodiment of the pressure sequence controlled valve of the present invention, the valve includes a housing with a chamber, where the housing includes an in-port for receiving a source of liquid into the chamber, and an out-port for supplying liquid out from the chamber. The valve further includes a piston disposed within the chamber of the housing, and the piston includes a sealing disk that divides the chamber into separate top and bottom chambers. The sealing disk has a top surface that defines a surface of the top chamber and a bottom surface that defines a surface of the bottom chamber. The in-port of the housing is coupled to the bottom chamber, and the out-port of the housing is disposed above the sealing disk. The piston moves up and down within the chamber in accordance with pressure on the piston. The piston rotates within the chamber a first predetermined distance when the piston rises to a predetermined first position, and the piston rotates a second predetermined distance when the piston descends to a predetermined second position. The sealing disk includes a port hole that extends between the top and bottom surfaces of the sealing disk and has substantially the same size as the out-port of the housing. The sealing disk""s port hole supplies liquid within the bottom chamber of the housing to the out-port when the port hole is at an angular position that is in coincidence with the out-port.